Howl of Oblivion: The Second Tomb of Oroch-Vaan

** Howl of Oblivion Campaign Page **

Awakening well rested the next day, the party prepares in the barracks of the Red Witch.  The spellcasters feel better today, and when the Jasidans arrive to take them to the tomb below they are in eager spirits.  It's all well and good until the entrance to the depths is in sight.

Passing from the worked area of the upper fane into a rough hewn cave passage, the party is put ill-at-ease by rows of sculpted heads that seem right out of the ancient Baklunish Empire.  These heads, along with several broken columns, seem embedded in the natural stone of the passage.  How this is possible is best not thought of, though the Twin Cataclysms come to mind.  The stone heads are staggered at intervals, with a more monstrous face opening its mouth at the end of the passage as the portal to the actual tomb.

The huge, empty area has a creep factor all its own.

The party feels strange as they pass through the heads, as if they have suddenly traveled a great distance.  After entering the tomb through the monstrous face, they are struck by the massive complex that looms before them.

This stone lid is nearly thirty feet long and requires a total 55 STR to lift.

As they enter and proceed through the western antechambers, the party is beset by swarms of small air elementals that erupt from much of the stonework.  Investigating the tomb turns up an object of note - this tomb is not for humans, but rather seems to house many dead minotaur-like bodies.  The bodies in the sarcophagi are interred in ancient finery, though seem devoid of any actual valuables.  There is a noticeable lack of any script in the tomb area or on the sarcophagi, but Anverth finds a massive collection of Jasidan temple rituals that seems to be in general use.

It's not dingy - it's dimly lit.

The party continues and explores the eastern antechambers from the main tomb entrance.  This area is in noticeable disrepair, though they do manage to find gems in a store room.  The room behind the scree-fall houses a number of items that are used in funerary rituals by a number of cultures, though the minotaur-like symbology has an unknown origin and meaning.  Thankfully, there are no elementals or constructs in this part of the complex, and exploration thereof will continue next session.

Mind's Eye vs. Miniatures

Who knows what horror lurks in the hearts of men? 
Inspirobot knows!

So, it's not really any secret that I favor miniatures when playing most RPGs.  Maybe because we didn't have a lot of those in the 90's, but I've always thought that miniature setups are the absolute pinnacle of game presentation.  Everything is easily represented and interpreted by both the players and the referee.  In this way, miniatures on a table during the game may be the most elegant kind of presentation available, especially if everything on the board is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).

Online games, to some degree, can emulate this environment.  Depending on the preparation time, an online game can provide a lot of tools an enterprising referee can use to emulate most things you could do on the table.  Maybe even a few more cool tricks that parrot video game tropes are available, but any online game that makes use of maps and tokens can be very similar to a tabletop environment.

Certain types of game demand something a little different to evoke certain themes and moods.  For example, when running investigation or horror games, there usually isn't much call to actually set up miniatures.  A scene could be set through nothing but exposition, description and following up with dialogue.  The actual physical play area has a lot more to do with making this kind of game or scene work than anything you can put on the table, as much of the action happens in the 'mind's eye'.  It's more about interaction with the themes and the feeling you can produce in the player.  Visual aids are usually employed such as illustrations or pictures of objects, characters and places - but these will only 'aid' the setting of the scene in the player's mind, and are not 'interacted' with like objects, miniatures or maps.

Dialogue and 'description' heavy scenes, in my opinion, are best played without any map or miniatures.  Having too many objects 'defined' during these interactions can be counter-productive as the smallest and most insignificant inclusion can completely captivate players.  This can be of great detriment to whatever you, as referee, may have intended.  Visual cues are almost mandatory in an online game to set the scene and obtain some of that precious player attention you're going to need to run the game.  

Interestingly, I find that because you're not in the physical space with your players it can be difficult to really make these scenes stick in an online game.  Roleplaying at the table will incorporate all sorts of body language such as facial expression and hand gesticulations and this can help focus attention around the table during the game.  Online, in many cases you won't see any faces and all cues given are through voice chat, which can really hinder the impact (or even the message the players can receive) from any convoluted dialogue or hints you may drop.  

You'll need a LOT of image assets.

Another problem online is that you can't control the space of your players, meaning all sorts of other things will probably be commanding their attention at times and you won't even realize until after the fact - if at all.  If I'm running a game at the table, I make sure the room is dark and Spartan as possible to remove all distractions.  Some background music helps a lot, but that's something you can only really control at the table rather than online (although you can make suggestions).

Bearing all this in mind, there are very few games that will be played entirely on the table.  I almost always include these sorts of scenes in every game, to a greater or lesser degree.  In fact, some games almost CANNOT be played with miniatures in most cases, and you will only break them out once or twice in years of playing - and even then, you may find it's not warranted.  By contrast, some games will be almost entirely on the table, with full terrain and miniature monsters and traps and other such.

I'll be running online games for the foreseeable future, due mostly to the absurdly deteriorating timeline in which I inhabit.  It's not all bad - I can do some things here that I can't do on the table.  Eventually, I'll be back on a proper battlefield...but until then we'll have to learn what works and what doesn't.  

Make use of the tools you've got, and and it's easy evolve the game into something that is enjoyable.  Do what you can, while you can.  You can rest assured that the toolset and circumstances will change in the future, whether you like it or not.

A Model Year with the Anycubic Photon

Inspirobot has already ordered replacement FEP.

It's been more than a year since I took my first steps into the hobby that is 3d printing.  This isn't really a 'review' of the Photon, but more of a discussion on 3d printing in relation to my main hobby: tabletop wargaming.  I took most of my hobby time in 2020 (little as there was) and put it into beginning to understand and master my new piece of equipment.  So, I huddled into my hermitage and began to experiment and study.

Let me say I had only a working knowledge of 3d design when I obtained my first printer.  I had worked in 3d environments before, and was quite familiar with coding - but less so the sculpting.  I am not a 3d artist, I'm a graphic designer.  Due to general professional experience and my hobby interests, and the fact that I love both video games and game design, I did happen to already know a great deal about the software side of this and it didn't really require much to get to where I wanted to be.  However, the sculpting of brand new pieces is something altogether different and much of my work in this area was to merely alter objects to my whatever my preferences were at the moment.

I immediately found I was going to need some stuff other than a 3d printer.  I think a resin printer is best for miniatures, and I also think they are basically cheaper and take less effort than some extrusion rigs.  Even so, you'll need a healthy supply of chemicals and a place to work with them.  It's not just 'beep-boop here's your toy boat or whatever'.  A curing station and wash station will be needed, but those are cheap.  I use a series of plastic containers for my wash / waste processing, but I bought a cheap curing station on the internet and it was a huge help.  You will also need large amounts of isopropyl alcohol for cleaning the resin - and most of these chemicals can be dangerous, so you also need safety equipment and half a brain.

Positioning your models correctly for the best print is one of the first challenges I had to address.  Improper positioning of the model is one of the things you really just have to 'learn' - and then, of course, comes the part where you have to add supports.  I don't have a lot of experience with 'pre-supported' models...and really didn't even know that was a thing until recently, with more sculptors offering such in their 3d model catalogs.  So, most of the models I've printed were 3d objects that may or may not have been intended to be 3d printed.

One thing I learned is to always have spare FEP film on hand.  Because of a failed print, I had seriously damaged the FEP almost immediately upon attempting to print.  Not the very first print I did, because I lucked out and selected an object that just happened to not need any supports.  It's perhaps the most delicate part of the machine (behind the LED screen itself) and they don't last forever, even if everything is going good.  However, this can cause problems for prints if it is damaged or folds, so be prepared with extra film at all times.  You don't want to have to stop a multi-print project for a week to wait on gear from the internet.

After I started to establish a complete understanding of the workflow, I saw how it was time to branch out with the software I was using for various tasks.  The software is where most of the work is done, and expanding your suite of programs to work with different projects is a something you may need to look into.  I already had Blender, but as I learned how to make the 3d objects into actual physical objects I found myself using Microsoft 3D Builder quite a bit.  I was actually surprised at what it can do and how reliable it is in fixing 3d meshes for stereolithography - and it was already on my PC.

Learning that I didn't have to use the Photon Slicer was also a huge leap.  When I found Chitubox and finally dared use it, I immediately started to have better and more reliable print results.  After I saw how it created supports and was able to help with finding 'islands' of non-printable meshes, my understanding of the process improved a great deal.  I have only failed a few prints since, and it's helped circumnavigate a few problems that arose from the other equipment.

For example, one thing you'll have to weed through if you want to print in resin is how the resin itself works.  For each and every resin, you'll need to dial-in the settings on your printer to get a good result.  Some resin is easier to cure than others, and each has it's own properties that may be favorable for certain projects.  The community tended resin settings spreadsheet is an invaluable tool that will save a lot of trial-and-error, but also provides enough data to experiment with reasonably predicable results.

When I first got into computer code some twenty-five years ago, I thought that it was like magic - making the machine do what you want by speaking in symbols and arcane languages known only to the enlightened.  With 3d printing - well, every single successful print blows my mind, while every failure weighs on my soul.  

So, at the beginning of 2021 I'm starting to print at an alarming rate - and I don't even care.  Half of what I print is just to see if I can, the other half is just because I think it's cool.  I haven't tried printing an army yet - but that's on the slate this year.  I also intend to support a lot of cool sculptors on Patreon, who so graciously provide pre-supported models I can just print and not have to work on beforehand.

Just remember, all trial and error is par for course - especially if you're like me and just slam your forehead against the wall until something breaks.  There is a lot that goes into this hobby, but I had the internet to teach me.  Reddit and Facebook have been a great help with all the 'support' groups I've joined.  You can pretty much guarantee that not every print will be perfect, and new problems will arise as soon as you think you've gotten past them.

So just get past them a hurdle at a time. 

I have to go change my FEP.